Ok, here's the background. My wife's PC (identical to my own, and running on Windows XP)was restarting at shutdown recently on it's own and I saw an error that said there was some kind of driver error. So, I uninstalled the nvidia drivers in hopes of installing the most recent ones. I don't know if this was the issue, but I was troubleshooting and I noticed that there was a recent driver update.

Well now I can't log on at all, because when I get to the windows login screen, the mouse and keyboard won't work. I see for an instance the cursor shows an hourglass, then nothing. I see the blinking cursor in the login field, but I can't type anything in there, and the mouse doesn't work.

So, I tried to do a system restore but it just sent me to the login screen, and no mouse or keyboard function persisted. When I tried to go into safe mode, it asked me what was the boot device I wanted to use (which after some searching I see is also an indicator of a problem, but I'm not sure what it means). I picked my HD and continued to do a restore to the last working config, and the same deal, can't login, no mouse or keyboard use at that sceen.

So, I tried going into safe and it shows both an administrator icon and my wife's user name, and I can't try either because again, the moust and keyboard aren't working here either!

I tried to boot with the windows xp disc in, even picked the boot source from the boot menu as floppy and again as the cd-rom. I read that doing so can sometimes fix things. No dice here either. I managed to get where I guess it was fixing things, and it asked for the administrator password. Well I'm the administrator and the only password I know isn't working.

So I'm at a loss. I'd prefer not to have to do a fresh install, but please, if anyone has any advice or directions, I REALLY need some hand holding here. I'm not an expert by any means, and I apparently know just enough about this stuff to get myself in trouble. I can use some direction and help and I would be majorly appreciative to anyone who can take the time to do so.

Thanks - MC

If you can get to the boot options screen and selet options using the keyboard then it is not a problem with the hardware. It appears that there is only a problem when you try to use I/O devices in windows which indicates a driver issue. Is the keyboard/Mouse USB or PS2? If they are USB then try PS2 kind (if you can, some pc's do not have this standard anymore). If you can get functionality by trying a different type of I/O device then get logged into the account you know and check your drivers. By default PS2 drivers are built into the OS (plug and play devices) if they have become corrupted, then you may have bigger problems. Take your PC to a repair center if you can't figure it out. They may even test it for free to see if it will work correctly with a different keyboard and save you the hassle of finding one or buying one.

_ After thought: If the computer will not boot to the Recovery CD then you may have to change the boot order. This involves going into the BIOS. But you should recover keyboard/mouse control at that point and be able to do a restore/recovery (your choice) to fix the driver issue